One cool thing we started doing when we were dating is something we call “Mystery Dates.” One person plans a date but doesn’t tell the other person what the plans are. Our mystery dates have included going to the Roller Girls, seeing B.B. King in concert and going to a performance of “Schoolhouse Rock.” In February, it just so happened that we planned mystery dates for each other in the same week.
Josh’s date was first and he booked us to participate in a chocolate tasting sponsored by Surdyk’s, a wine shop in NE Minneapolis. It was nice timing because it was the week of Valentine’s Day, and who doesn’t want to do a chocolate tasting then?! Since we had time to kill before the class we stopped to have dinner at Erte, also in Northeast. Erte has a peacock bar and a nice ambience in the dining room. The food was decent enough, but not awesome.
We get to the chocolate tasting (Chocolate: The Taste of Luxury) at 7:15 for our 7:30 class, only it turns out the class started at 6:30, while we were killing time at Erte. Oops! So we missed the more educational aspects of the class, but still got to try all of the different chocolate — which was, of course, the important part! We did learn a few things from our neighbors, including things you should look for in chocolate like a smooth texture, a good snap when you break it, no white, waxy color and that it should smell good. We learned the term “conch,” which means to grind down the chocolate particles, and that darker chocolate has more nutrients than milkier chocolate. Our instructor claimed that caffeine does not exist in chocolate, but I am not sure I believe her.
We first tried chocolate nibs, which were bitter and not too tasty. Then we tried 7 different chocolates from various parts of the world, and it is amazing how different chocolate can taste. Even without additives some chocolate tastes fruity, others taste nutty. And, depending on the process, some are smooth and creamy and others are grainy.
My favorite was a Vosges Haut Chocolat Goji Bar, made in the U.S. It had a salty texture and an interesting taste. Next was the Dolfin Dark Chocolate with crystalized orange peel from Belgium. Very orange tasting, creamy. Next I liked the Valrhona Le Noir Cacao from France, which to me tasted like high quality chocolate chips or Hershey’s Special Dark minis. Then I liked the Michel Cluizel Plantation Maralumi from France, which was creamy and had a tang at the end. The Patric Chocolate Madagascar Sambirano Valley from Columbia, MO, was also tangy, and almost fruity tasting. Next was the Rogue Choclatier Rio Caribe, made in Minneapolis. It had a coffee/nutty/cheese flavor, a creamy texture but was not sweet, though it had a long finish. My least favorite was the Taza Stone Ground organic chocolate from Somerville, Mass. It was not creamy at all, but granular with an almost air pocket texture. It was fruity and tangy.
Along with the chocolate they served a couple of wines, including a dessert wine called a black muscat that Josh and I had never tried before. We’re fans! It was almost like a port, syrupy sweet with a floral nose. All in all, I thought $40/person was kind of expensive to taste chocolate, and I’d rather buy a bunch of chocolate bars from Lund’s and do a tasting at home with Josh or friends. The point, I guess, is you never actually DO those things, so I’m glad we took the class. It did open our eyes to some different chocolates that are out there and we’ve even bought a couple of different bars to try since based on our experiences.
My mystery date was next, and I had enrolled us in a pasta-making class at Kitchen Window in Uptown. Despite having lived in Uptown for five years, this is maybe one of the most fun things I have done there. Kitchen Window is in Calhoun Square, and we got there about an hour early. We met up at Famous Dave’s and had a beer and some apps in the bar area. I think the whole thing cost less than $20 – all in all, a cheap date. We were reminded that they have a Sunday blues brunch, which we’ll have to check out. Also made a mental note to come back sometime for their nightly entertainment and to go to this year’s Rib Fest.
So we get to Kitchen Window and the classes are, of course, upstairs. The class was $60/person, which I didn’t think was bad since you eat while there and have plenty to take home. Kitchen Window has a variety of classes, from demonstrations to full-on participation. This was a participation class, which meant we all got aprons and actually made our own pasta. It was fun!
Carl Antholz was the chef, and he showed us how to mix the 1-1/2 cups flour and 2 large eggs together to make the pasta. (Can you believe that’s all there is to it?!) Kneading it is the tough part; I don’t think any of us kneaded it as long as we needed to. We made two batches each – plain pasta and a flavored pasta. I made a red pepper pasta and Josh made a spinach pasta. Along with the listening and working in class, you can order beer, wine, etc. Nothing like learning how to make hand-made pasta while kicking back a few glasses of sparkling wine
After we made our pasta, we could make it into recognizable shapes. First we had to flatten it out using a pasta machine, and then Carl taught us how to make ravioli and tortellini (Venus’ bellybutton), or we could make it into strips of linguini, etc. You have to flatten it a LOT, and we considered buying a pasta machine because this was pretty fun. They are about $100, though, and it’s a lot of work, so we decided we couldn’t justify the cost for something we probably wouldn’t do very often. For pasta fillings we had butternut squash (my favorite) and also a yummy cheese mixture made of gorgonzola, asiago, heavy cream and chive.
The class was two parts – in the first part we made the pasta, then we took a short break where you could conveniently shop in their store (at least they give you a coupon). Part two of the class is you actually cook your pasta and eat it. Nobody was going up to put their pasta in the water, so finally I was like – we’ll do it! So ours was done first, which meant we got to eat first. Yay! While we were rolling out our pasta, Carl and his helpers made a fettuccine sauce, a meat sauce and a pesto sauce that we could use on our cooked pasta. He also made a lasagne we could eat. All in all, there was lots of food!
While we were eating Carl gave a demonstration on how to make gnocchi. The cool thing is we got recipe packets for everything, even the things we ourselves did not make. (And we got boxes to take our leftover pasta home in.) I’m pretty sure we’ll look into taking another class there sometime.
Carl Antholz was the chef, and he showed us how to mix the 1-1/2 cups flour and 2 large eggs together to make the pasta. (Can you believe that’s all there is to it?!) Kneading it is the tough part; I don’t think any of us kneaded it as long as we needed to. We made two batches each – plain pasta and a flavored pasta. I made a red pepper pasta and Josh made a spinach pasta. Along with the listening and working in class, you can order beer, wine, etc. Nothing like learning how to make hand-made pasta while kicking back a few glasses of sparkling wine
After we made our pasta, we could make it into recognizable shapes. First we had to flatten it out using a pasta machine, and then Carl taught us how to make ravioli and tortellini (Venus’ bellybutton), or we could make it into strips of linguini, etc. You have to flatten it a LOT, and we considered buying a pasta machine because this was pretty fun. They are about $100, though, and it’s a lot of work, so we decided we couldn’t justify the cost for something we probably wouldn’t do very often. For pasta fillings we had butternut squash (my favorite) and also a yummy cheese mixture made of gorgonzola, asiago, heavy cream and chive.
The class was two parts – in the first part we made the pasta, then we took a short break where you could conveniently shop in their store (at least they give you a coupon). Part two of the class is you actually cook your pasta and eat it. Nobody was going up to put their pasta in the water, so finally I was like – we’ll do it! So ours was done first, which meant we got to eat first. Yay! While we were rolling out our pasta, Carl and his helpers made a fettuccine sauce, a meat sauce and a pesto sauce that we could use on our cooked pasta. He also made a lasagne we could eat. All in all, there was lots of food!
While we were eating Carl gave a demonstration on how to make gnocchi. The cool thing is we got recipe packets for everything, even the things we ourselves did not make. (And we got boxes to take our leftover pasta home in.) I’m pretty sure we’ll look into taking another class there sometime.
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